Without hatred

Happy indeed we live who are free from hatred among those who still hate. In the midst of hate-filled men, we live free from hatred” (Dhammapada 197). Thanissaro Bhikkhu: “How very happily we live, free from hostility among those who are hostile. Among hostile people, free from hostility we dwell.”

The world seems to run on hate and anger–all we need do is look at history and see that humanity is a bundle of conflicts. That is the way things are, and we should accept it but not approve of it. Rather than waiting for a “better day” when hatred will be abolished–something that absolutely will never happen–we should determine to live ourselves without hatred or hostility, even when encountering those who do hate, and who may hate us for not hating.

It is foolish to wait for “everyone to do it” before doing it ourselves. Waiting for a more congenial time or environment to practice virtue is a great folly. After all, it may be our friendliness (metta) and peaceful response to others that will help them be the same. But do notice that Buddha does not say that we shall attempt to change others and get them not to hate, for they have to put forth their own will to change themselves, just as we are doing.

The principle set forth in this verse applies as well to the ultimate activity of hatred: war. Rather than engaging in futile “peace efforts” that are usually embittered and violent–not to speak of being impractical and unreasonable–we must settle our hearts in peace. I have met many good men and women of peace who were saddened at the prevalence of war, and who strove to live lives of peace themselves. But I have met no “peaceniks” that were not narrow, hateful, and devoid of peace in mind and heart, and politically uninformed and bigoted. Blaming others for war, they did not see that they were contributing to the universal vibrations of anger and spite.

Fundamentally, this and subsequent verses teach us that each person must determine to follow the path of right thought and action and let others alone. Over a hundred years ago a wise man wrote an article on spiritual life entitled: Others May, You Cannot. That is a good rule to remember.

Inwardly healthy

“Happy indeed we live who are free from disease among those still diseased. In the midst of diseased men, we live free from disease” (Dhammapada 198). Thanissaro Bhikkhu: “How very happily we live, free from misery among those who are miserable. Among miserable people, free from misery we dwell.”

Narada Thera comments that the disease spoken of here is “the disease of passions.” It is strange but true that a great many people continually stir themselves up, deliberately choosing to live is a state of constant ferment, upset, and misery. Oftentimes this is because nothing else goes on in their life. Many neighborhoods have their local grouch whose only purpose in life is complaining and making trouble for others. This often includes complaints to the police and other authorities for petty “crimes” on behalf of others, especially regarding parking in front of their property. Children and adults are equal targets for their frustration and malice.

When growing up I knew three of these bitter people, all of whom were old, ill, and without family or friends. Their ways were inexplicable. But one of them came out differently. She had done some nasty, spiteful thing to an aunt of mine, and her son retaliated with some prank. The old lady did not know who did it, but my cousin began to feel really bad about what he had done. So he went to her house and apologized and asked her forgiveness. The poor woman nearly passed out in shock, since for years everyone had despised her. She was so moved she hugged and kissed him and apologized for being such a grouch. The result was she became friends with my aunt’s family and soon was friends will all the neighbors. This is the power of goodness, even if belated.

Living amongst the passion-ridden, we can be passion-free and at peace.

Without worry

“Happy indeed we live who are free from worry among those who are still worried. In the midst of worried men, we live free from worry” (Dhammapada 199).

This must be an ambiguous verse in the Pali original, for Harischandra Kaviratna renders it: “Blessed indeed are we who live among those who are yearning for sense delights, without yearning for such things; amidst those who are yearning for sense delights, let us dwell without yearning.” Narada Thera agrees in his translation, but Thanissaro Bhikkhu has it: “How very happily we live, free from busyness among those who are busy. Among busy people, free from busyness we dwell.”

Whichever it is, we can profitably resolve to put away, worry, desire, and obsession with externals from our minds and live at rest in our hearts.

Happy with nothing

“Happy indeed we live who have nothing of our own. We shall feed on joy, just like the radiant devas” (Dhammapada 200).

This can be followed in two ways. The first is the obvious one of living in blessed simplicity without the burden of many things. A friend of mine used to take stock of everything in her house about every six months, and get rid of everything she did not really need. She had realized that the habit of possession creeps up on all of us, and each time she made her inventory, sure enough her own weakness had begun tripping her up.

The second way is to live happily in the realization that absolutely nothing is ever really ours, that everything, including our body, eventually dissolves away. And besides, it is all just a dream which must end in time. This is the key to really enjoying things, for they are not hanging around our necks demanding that we look after them, guard them, protect them, and identify with them. To be possessed by possessions is misery, but freedom from them is the happiness of the gods.

More practical wisdom from the Buddha:

• Meditation: Realization vs. Speculation
• Gaining Freedom from the Chains of Delusion
• What Is the Mind?: A Meditator’s Guide

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Dharana

1. Dharana is concentration.
2. It is fixing the mind on an external object or an internal point or an idea.
3. Concentration is fixing the mind; meditation is allowing one idea to flow continuously.
4. Be serene. Be cheerful. Be patient. Be regular in your practice. Observe celibacy. Reduce your wants and activities. Mix little. Observe mauna. These are aids to concentration.
5. Concentrate on trikuti [between the eyebrows] or heart [chakra].

Dhyana

1. Dhyana is meditation.
2. When you practise concentration, meditation and samadhi at a time, it is called samyama.
3. Meditation is the key to unlock the door of moksha.
4. Meditation bestows intuitive knowledge and eternal bliss.
5. Cultivate burning dispassion, burning aspiration or longing for God-realization. You will have wonderful meditation.
6. Shun siddhis or psychic powers. They are obstacles in the path of yoga.
7. Too much sleep, lack of brahmacharya, laziness, rising up of latent desires, company of worldly people, overwork, overeating are all obstacles in meditation.
8. Meditate on the form of the Lord. This is concrete meditation.
9. Meditate on His attributes. This is abstract meditation.

Meditation

1. Dharana or concentration matures in due course into dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (superconscious state).
2. Meditation is prolonged concentration. The process of meditation is like the pouring of oil from one vessel into another in a steady unbroken stream.
3. Meditation is an effort in the beginning. Later on it becomes habitual and gives bliss, joy and peace.
4. Only when you have practised preliminary stages of sadhana such as yama, niyama, will you obtain the full benefit of meditation.
5. In the one-pointed state, there cannot be more than one idea. One idea can go only if another idea enters the mind.
6. However intellectual you may be, you cannot concentrate without the help of some image or symbol in the beginning.
7. Success in meditation is quick in those whose practice and meditation are intense.
8. Meditation is a positive, vital, dynamic process. It transforms man into divinity.
9. Through regular meditation you can build an impregnable and invulnerable fortress. Maya cannot assail you.
10. Meditation is the key to intuition.
11. Meditation is the key to unfold the divinity or atman, hidden in all names and forms.
12. Meditation is the key to spiritual illumination.
13. Meditation is the only passport to the satisfaction of life.
14. Meditation is an antidote to death.
15. Meditation is a vital part of daily living. Therefore meditate, meditate daily.
16. Even a little meditation daily will raise you a little higher and a little nearer to God.
17. The mind is refined by devotion and meditation.
18. As gold purified in a crucible shines bright, so constant meditation on the atman makes the mind pure and effulgent with spiritual lustre.
19. A purified mind can grasp anything. It can dive deep into the subtlest subject, and understand even transcendental things.
20. Meditation releases a great amount of spiritual power. By constant meditation on the self, one attains liberation.
21. Meditate upon purity and other similar qualities associated with purity–qualities like simplicity, guilelessness, frankness, truthfulness, open-heartedness, innocence, goodness, etc.
22. Attune yourself with the Infinite by stilling the mind, by silencing the thoughts and emotions.
23. Mind is the biggest radio. It is the receiving set. Attune it with the Infinite. Enjoy the supreme bliss of the Supreme Soul.
24. Meditate. Root yourself in Divinity.
25. Shut down in meditation the conscious mind–that part of your mind which thinks of the external world, your body and its wants.
26. Meditation on Brahman is the highest form of religion.
27. You can realise Brahman when you have stillness or serenity of mind.
28. O Ram, meditate regularly in the early hours of the morning. Let the mind taste the bliss of the self.
29. The meditative mood comes and goes. Restrain the senses. Be eternally vigilant.
30. Be regular in your meditation and become more positive.
31. Sit for meditation at fixed hours. Brahmamuhurta, noon, evening, (dusk, twilight) and night.
32. Your life and your meditation must become one.
33. In deep meditation there is the first divine thrill in the heart with joy and bliss.
34. When you enter into deep meditation, you will realise balance, composure, serenity, peace of mind, steadiness, fearlessness, highest dispassion.
35. Inner spiritual strength, perfect peace, knowledge and bliss are the fruits of meditation.
36. Meditate regularly. You will attain the goal, God-Realisation.
37. Meditate. Have a glimpse of That. All dualities, all sorrows, all pains will vanish in toto.

Further Reading:

• Meditation on Om, by Swami Sivananda
• A Brief life of Swami Sivananda
• Swami Sivananda on Psychic Powers

One of the most popular and useful articles on the Atma Jyoti website is the Brief Sanskrit Glossary. As Sanskrit terminology is at the heart of the spiritual tradition of India, newcomers (and veterans) to the study of the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Yoga Sutras, and writings of the saints will find this tool helpful in understanding the richness of these sacred writings.

We have now updated the Brief Sanskrit Glossary, improving existing definitions, and adding dozens more.

Visit the Brief Sanskrit Glossary.

Thakur immediately replied, “The life of a sadhu [see definition below]. All – men, devatas, gandharvas, birds, beasts and insects, even trees and creepers, tread one path but the sadhu treads another – just the opposite one, upstream. Everywhere man and woman unite but the sadhu goes alone. Unless one is alone, one cannot attain to Him. Sadhus goes in company for some time – that of the guru – then he has to go alone till the last…” Without hesitating for a moment, Thakur said these words.”

This quote is taken from the book M, the Apostle and Evangelist, much of which can be found online at Kathamrita.org.

From a Brief Sanskrit Glossary:
Sadhu: Seeker for truth (sat); and person who is practicing spiritual disciplines. Usually this term is applied only to monastics.

From Belur Math to Dakshineshwar

On the banks of the Ganges River north of Kolkata are two of the most remarkable religious sites in all of India. On one side is the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, where Sri Ramakrishna practiced intense spiritual disciplines while serving as the priest of the Goddess Kali. The temple compound has become a place of pilgrimage for devotees of Mother Kali and Sri Ramakrishna alike, including monks from Atma Jyoti Ashram who filmed this video.

Down river, on the other side of the Ganga, is Belur Math, the monastery founded by Swami Vivekananda, the world-renowned disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, which has become the world headquarters of the Ramakrishna Mission.

Ganga Arati

Every night in Hardwar, in the foothills of the Himalayas, at about 6:00 p.m. there is worship (arati) of the Ganga at the Brahma Kund. In February of 2003, pilgrim-monks from the Atma Jyoti Ashram participated in the Ganges worship, which they also videotaped, as well as the shrines and religious goods shops located around the Brahma Kund.

Glimpses of India

A compilation of four short spiritual events filmed by our pilgrim monks during their trip to India in 2005:

1. The Morning Havan by the students at the Vedic Gurukula at Om Shanti Dhama in Karnataka.
2. Rare footage of the spiritual figure known as “Ajja” in Puttur, southern Karnataka.
3. The evening Nagar kirtan of Ram Nam at Anandashram, made famous by Papa Ramdas, near Kanhangad, Kerala.
4. Devotional Bhajans and dancing by village devotees at the Samadhi Shrine of Jnaneshwar in Alandi, Maharashtra.

Temple Elephants in India

A two minute video filmed in various temples throughout India, showing temple elephants blessing devotees, and being fed by their mahuts. Elephants in this video include Rukmini from the Arunachaleshwar Temple in Tiruvannamalai, Andar from the Sri Rangam Temple in Trichy, and the temple elephant from the famous Krishna temple in Udupi.

India Smiles

When people anywhere see a camera, it seems to bring out the budding actor in them. In our trips to India, we have frequently brought smiles to people’s faces by showing them their images in both still and video cameras. This film is a short collage of footage of both young and old enjoying their moment of fame on film.

Visit our India Videos page to see these videos in your choice of sizes, depending on the speed of your web connection.

Q: I want to experience sweet fellowship with God. Also, how do I get to know God without giving my mind away while still being surrendered?

Intimate communion with God is not just a possibility–it is your actual nature. Even at this moment you are absolutely one with God, but the focus of your consciousness has slipped away from the Divine Center into a state of disunity in which the dream has hidden the Divine Dreamer. Nevertheless, nothing has really changed any more than if you dream your are someone other than your waking self makes you that someone. When you wake it is all over. In the same way, when you awake from this prolonged dream we call samsara and Maya, you will not be attaining something or becoming something, you will be remembering the reality of yourself and the Reality that is God.

How to go about awakening is the crucial question. Even though awakening is a purely spiritual process, we cannot forget the body and mind that presently are blinding us to the Divine Vision. So here are some recommended steps:

1. For the body: Become a vegetarian if you are not already so, eliminating all meat, fish, and eggs totally from your diet. Further, abstain absolutely from alcohol, nicotine, and mind-altering drugs.
2. For the mind: Obtain and read the first four books listed in A Yogi’s Recommended Reading List on our website.
3. For both body and mind: Adhere strictly to the principles of yama-niyama as outlined in the article The Foundations of Yoga.
4. For the spirit: Begin meditating seriously and regularly, using the next three resources listed in A Yogi’s Recommended Reading List.

Surrender?

Now about your second sentence. First of all, the idea of “surrender” in spiritual life is a Western concept and a colossal aberration. God is not your enemy, so why would you surrender to God? Surrender is a tool of cult domination intended to bully people into giving up their intelligence and personal welfare. Guru cults traffic in this propaganda of surrender, but they are spiritual criminals, not true dharmic institutions. In Sanskrit the word they mistranslate is sharanam, when means refuge, protection, and shelter. Taking refuge in God is hardly surrender: it is safety and assurance, the end of doubt and fear. It is loving trust placed in the only worthy Protector.

As far as giving your mind away is concerned, it is the same situation. This is why the Bhagavad Gita should be studied. Krishna keeps speaking of the necessity for Buddhi Yoga, the cultivation of the intelligence and discrimination. There is no giving up of the mind in the path to Self-realization. It is just the opposite, for spiritual cultivation–yoga–enables us to master our mind and use it as a tool for furthering our evolution.

Finally, please do not accept the mistaken idea that we “give” ourselves to God or are some kind of “offering” or “sacrifice” to God. That, too, is complete and dangerous nonsense. We are one with God right now; giving, offering, or sacrificing is an impossibility. What is needed is reclamation of what we have never lost! That is one of those glorious contradictions in which Eastern wisdom abounds, but whose realities can be experienced by the yogi.

“Therefore become a yogi” (Bhagavad Gita 6:46).

Further reading:

• Useful articles on Vegetarian Diet
• The Pathology of Super-Gurudom
• Meditation: Where to Begin

Subscribe to the Atma Jyoti Blog and read the latest articles on practical spiritual life.

“The narrative of most people’s lives is — what? They were born, they struggled, they went through all sorts of difficulties, and then got sick and died. If they were lucky maybe they got to do some good things for their fellow human beings, but then they still just grew sick and died.

“But if you touch the Deathless, that’s a very different narrative, the narrative of a life that genuinely accomplished something, a life well lived. If you don’t touch the Deathless, the question at the end of your life is, “What was that all about? What was accomplished by all that producing and consuming, all that struggle?”

“Whatever you do in time and space is going to get changed someday, like a picture you draw with a stick in flowing water. But if you touch something outside of time and space, then life hasn’t been wasted. The narrative arc is really satisfying — because once you’ve found the Deathless it’s always there to depend on. You always have something to show for your efforts.

“And that’s the most important thing you’ll ever need to know.”

More reading:

• The Ultimate Man: from Faith to Knowing
• Buddha’s Words: the End of the Journey
• Hard Sayings of the Great Masters

With indrawn eyes, M addressed all here present:

“People think they have taken their whole meal (of knowledge) as a monkey does. If food is placed before a monkey he quickly puts it all in his mouth. But actually he does not eat – he keeps it stored in the bag of his throat.

“Likewise many people think that they have eaten a lot – so much of divine talk they have heard. But they have not digested it. They have heard it all right but have not made use of it – they have not tried to live it in life. That’s why it does not show. That’s why one wants to eat other things. The mind runs after sensory enjoyments.

“What is it  merely to hear? Nothing will happen even if it is kept in the brain when there is no strong effort to practice it one’s life. No work is possible by going slow. Tremendous effort is needed after hearing: let my life ebb out, I shall not give up effort. Then alone the real ‘food” is taken, the alone knowledge is acquired.”

This quote is taken from the book M, the Apostle and Evangelist, much of which can be found online at Kathamrita.org.

Forgotten gems from the Atma Jyoti Blog:

• The Key to Finding God
• The Sure Way to Realize God
• Living on the Mountain of Higher Consciousness and Life
• The Yogi’s Retreat from the World